This invention relates generally to apparatus for handling paper currency, and more particularly to secure, stacking cash boxes for use with apparatus for validating paper currency, such as used in the gaming or vending industries.
Gaming or vending apparatus frequently include devices for receiving paper money, validating it, providing it into a secure receptacle, provide a signal to the apparatus, e.g., a slot machine (in the case of the gaming industry), a non-alcoholic beverage vending machine (in the case of the vending industry), etc., of the acceptance of the paper currency.
In particular, prior art currency handling apparatus typically include a cash or "stacker" box for storing a stack of accepted paper currency bills or banknotes therein, a currency validator for checking the validity of a paper bill or banknote inserted into the validator, and a transport mechanism for carrying an accepted bill or banknote from the validator into the cash box or for ejecting a rejected, i.e., non-validated, bill or banknote. The validator typically comprises plural conveyor belts for engaging the longitudinal edges of the inserted bill or banknote to carry it past a plurality of optical and magnetic sensors. The sensors serve to sense various portions of the banknote and to provide electrical signals responsive thereto to associated microprocessor or control means (usually forming a portion of the validator or, in some cases, forming a portion of the apparatus to which the validator is connected) to determine if the banknote is valid, and its denomination. If the banknote is valid, it is transported by the transport mechanism, e.g., a pair of gear-driven belts which also engage the longitudinal peripheral edges of the banknote, into a waiting cash box.
The mechanism for carrying the accepted bill or banknote into the cash box is commonly referred to as a "punch" or "pusher" plate, and may form a portion of the transport mechanism of the stacker apparatus, or may form a portion of the cash box itself.
In the later case the cash box is necessarily somewhat complex and expensive. In either case, prior art cash boxes frequently include a window or opening in a wall thereof through which the currency bill or banknote is introduced for stacking therein. If the punch plate is located in the apparatus, and not in the cash box itself, the window through which the banknote is pushed or punched is quite large, i.e., as long as the banknote, but of a slightly lesser width.
When the cash box is full, i.e., the stack of bills therein reaches a predetermined amount, it is removed from the stacking apparatus, the currency removed therefrom, and then it is remounted to the stacking apparatus for reuse.
In the gaming industry, where security is of paramount concern, it is a typical practice to remove the full cash box to some secure location before its currency contents are emptied. Thus, prior art cash boxes having large windows for passage of the banknotes therethrough typically include some locking means to seal or close that window when the cash box is removed from the stacker apparatus to ensure that access cannot be gained through the window to the interior of the cash box. The locking means employed by such prior art devices is frequently quite complex, e.g., a foldable multi-section, gear-driven door, which necessarily increases the costs of such cash boxes. While such prior art cash boxes may provide sufficient security to prevent access to their interior once they have been removed from the apparatus which they had been servicing, they are not very durable, and hence are subject to damage by impact, thereby possibly rendering them inoperative.
In addition to the foregoing some prior art cash boxes may not provide sufficient security to prevent access to their interior if the stacker apparatus to which they are mounted needs to be opened for some reason leaving the cash box in place. Such action could occur during servicing of the transport path to clear a paper bill or banknote which is jammed therein.
Examples prior art paper currency handling and/or storage apparatus are shown in the following U.S. Pat. Nos.: 4,434,931 (Hunt et al.), 4,720,092 (Juleff), 4,834,230 (Kondo), 4,949,901 (Harris), 5,129,330 (McKay et al.), 5,161,736 (Roccoberton et al.), 5,205,481 (Dekker), 5,209,395 (Zouzoulas), 5,344,135 (Isobe et al.), and 5,372,361 (Isobe et al.).
A need thus exists for a cash box and a paper currency handling apparatus using the same which is simple in construction and relatively low in cost. A need also exists for a cash box to provide sufficient security for its contents, whether it is in place within a paper currency handling apparatus, or is removed therefrom.